124 Poetry for Studentsoppressive society the encounter would probably
have led to an adventure; instead it led to a poem,
and even that he did not dare publish. Later in his
life he did write and publish poems about encoun-
ters between strangers that did result in affairs
(“The Window of the Tobacco Shop,” “He Asked
about the Quality”).
Written in 1905–1908 were also a few ex-
quisite erotic poems which leave no doubt about
“the form of [sensual pleasure]” but which were
written in an elevated style without explicit details
and were published in 1912–1917. Included in this
group are the poems “I Went,” “One Night,” “Days
of 1903” and “Come Back.”
With the publication of “Ithaca” in 1911
Cavafy established the theoretical framework into
which one can fit all of these previous poems as
well as those that follow. He declared that the fi-
nal destination of the journey is not important; what
is important is sensual pleasure, that the journey
should be full of joy, adventure and sensual de-
lights. The poem’s symbolism covers a much wider
area than that of the journey. It implies that there
is no goal in life, that personal experience is more
important and that life is its own justification.
In the decade that followed “Ithaca,” Cavafy
wrote many of his most affirmative erotic poems.
He had overcome his inhibitions and was at peace
with himself; and although his difficulties with so-
ciety were not entirely over, he expressed himself
more freely. His life and his poetry during this pe-
riod seem to be more or less an application of the
principles spelled out in “Ithaca.” He was travel-
ing “from harbor to harbor” enjoying with “rare ex-
citement” the sensual pleasures of the journey and
transforming them into art. The predominant mood
in these poems is one of fulfilment and glorifica-
tion of the senses.
This decade starts with “I’ve Looked So
Much... .” (1911), in which he tells us that his vi-
sion overflows with beauty, and continues with
“Ithaca,” expressing the euphoria of the adventure.
Even the symbolic poem “The God Abandons
Antony” (1910), which represents the end of the
journey, is the summing up of a life rich with happy
experiences. The symbolic departure from a harbor
in “In the Street” (1913) is also represented as a
strong intoxication with pleasure. Another depar-
ture is presented in “Returning [Home] from
Greece” (1914), in which the literal departure is at
the same time a symbolic one, as the protagonist
abandons the principles that Greece represents
(classical restraint) and sails toward Alexandria andits more uninhibited way of life. The adventurous
wandering from harbor to harbor is emphasized or
implied in poems like “Passing Through” (1914),
“Body, Remember... .” (1916) and “Gray” (1917).
In “Passing Through” the protagonist abandons
himself to a life of pleasure, his body overcome by
“forbidden erotic ecstasy.” Also in “Body, Re-
member,” the protagonist’s, indulgence in past
pleasure is nothing else but a happy recollection or
his journey from harbor to harbor. And the poem
“Gray” contains the justification of his preference
for many harbors.
Some of the above poems, as well as a few
others written during the same decade, are journeys
to the past. In this period, Cavafy is not an old
man who recollects his distant past and for whom
memory is a therapy. The poet vividly recalls happy
moments even of a recent past, as for instance
in “To Sensual Pleasure” (1913), where he feels
the need to celebrate the journey and the fulfilment
as he departs from a harbor. After “Walls” and
the claustrophobic feeling and imprisonment of
his early period, it is natural for him to write
poems like “Body, Remember” and “To Sensual
Pleasure” in order to reaffirm an uninhibited
eroticism. It is this kind of affirmation that he de-
scribes in the poem “Outside the House” (1917),
in which the view of an old building brings back
joy and sensuous memories—the spell of love
transforms the house and its environment into a
magic place.
Very characteristic of Cavafy is his preference
for transient affairs. As W. H. Auden writes, “The
erotic world he depicts is one of casual pickups and
short-lived affairs,” but the poet refuses to pretend
that he feels unhappy or guilty about it. Rex
Warner, stressing the poet’s realism and acceptance
of life, notes that “if we are to take the poet’s own
word for it, love affairs of a disreputable character
were a source of immense inspiration.” Other crit-
ics, like George Seferis and Edmund Keeley, ex-
press a different point of view. Seferis sees in
Cavafy’s poetry an “unresurrected Adonis,” and
Keeley writes that sterility, frustration and loss are
the prevailing attributes of actual experience in
Cavafy’s contemporary city. They both see him
“condemned” to such ephemeral affairs. In my
view, however, sterility for Cavafy is irrelevant,
and transience means renewal. He believed that
prolongation of a love affair would result in dete-
rioration. This becomes clear in poems such as “Be-
fore Time Altered Them,” “Gray,” etc. Peter Bien,
discussing in the context of “Ithaca” Cavafy’s be-
lief in the value of individual experience, observesIthaka67082 _PFS_V19ithak 113 - 128 .qxd 9/16/2003 9:47 M Page 124